


Yuletide Feast, To Drive The Cold Away

by Velocity_Owl87



Category: Norse Religion & Lore, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Always a Different Sex, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ambiguous Relationships, F/M, Introspection, Love/Hate, Romantic Gestures, Thor Feels, Yule
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-27
Updated: 2016-12-27
Packaged: 2018-09-12 15:11:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9078211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Velocity_Owl87/pseuds/Velocity_Owl87
Summary: Yule is upon Asgard, and Tora is quite ambivalent towards it. Until she comes to see Loki's hand in all of it and appreciate the gesture behind it all.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I usually write a Christmas based story and I wasn't sure what fandom to write it in until I got asked questions about what possible feasts there would be in Asgard. The traditions and details I put it in this one are borrowed from old Norwegian traditions and are a loose base and not completely borrowed from there.   
> This is a third companion piece to my two other fem!Thor stories "We are free to choose, but we are not free from the consequences" amd "This is what I choose, this is what I accept."  
> Proofed, but if mistakes appear they will be fixed later on.  
> Happy Hols!

Loki had been the one to drag her out of her weaving room the morning of the Winter Solstice. She had wanted to hide there and keep weaving with Modi in a basket at her feet, but Loki had summoned her in that soft voice of his that always made her do as he said. It was just easier to pick her battles with him. So she had put her shutter down and picked up their son and gone to supervise the preparations for the feast that would last three days.

She had already seen the livestock and had made sure that they were perfect for the feasts. The sheaves of wheat had been put out for the Nisse. The mead had been brewed and was waiting in barrels for it to be drunk. The gits had been prepared and the trees were being dragged in. Fir, birch, pine, spruce and cypress branches had been cut and were just now being put in place along with the baubles that would decorate the entirety of the halls. 

Tora walked and noted all of it, feeling a slight pang of nostalgia and grudging appreciation at the sight. She wasn’t quite in the mood for celebrations yet, but knew that as the new Queen and Allmother, it was her duty to hold the celebration alongside the new Allfather. Her mouth curved up in an ironic smirk at her new role. At Loki’s role. But she kept on walking and hoping that as she did, more of the spirit of the Yule season sank into her and more goodwill towards Loki grew. 

Loki had been chaos before ascending the throne, the responsibility and what Tora suspected was the adulation of the populace had kept him on the straight and narrow. He had brought much needed stability and this feast was the culmination of all that he had done since he had taken the throne. She couldn’t begrudge him the celebration. Nor could she deny that it was a clever political move.

Even as unskilled as she was in the complex political maneuvers that Loki was the master in, she was well aware that his move went a long way in securing the goodwill of Asgard. The people needed to know and see that the stability was ongoing and the Yule feast was the perfect place to show that. Loki needed to be reassured and even though her old, tired resentment, she could see that as long as that was happening, he was an effective ruler.

Modi snuffed into her chest, pulling her thoughts away from Loki to focus on him instead. She looked down and saw him rootling into the front of her barely tied bodice and she stifled a small sigh. He was hungry again and she couldn’t begrudge him his hunger. He was her son, no matter how he had been conceived, and she loved him. Even when her chest was sore and she was sure that Modi had completely drained all of her energy. 

“Ma’am? Is everything in order?”

The steward’s quiet voice broke through her thoughts and she turned to look at the nervous man standing almost in front of her. Behind him, servants stood at the ready, waiting for orders from her and the steward. She cast another look around the hall and could barely contain herself at the sight of the greenery and gold and bronze decorations. It wasn’t quite how it was when she was a child, but it was close. 

Nostalgia overwhelmed her and she fought the tears back at the memories of the Allfather and Allmother as they spoke before the feast would begin. How they had looked in the light of the thousands of candles and torches that would light up the halls. How she and Loki would smile secretly at each other before…

“It’s perfect. My many thanks to you and your helpers, Steward.”

He bowed his head and the servants breathed quiet sighs of relief as they went back to work. They were relieved that no extra work would be added to their load and that they had managed to please the Queen. The king had promised retribution if that wasn’t to be the case, so they had hoped and prayed the Queen would be pleased. Many of them had muttered small prayers of thanks to Odin and Frigg and promised to leave extra offerings at their temples. 

“I need to take care of the prince. But you have done great work. Please, carry on.”

Tora didn’t wait for the comment and instead took herself off to her chambers, where she sat in the rocking chair and pulled her laces open, freeing a breast that Modi took with alacrity. As he was drinking, she rocked, humming to him to get him to sleep. She guessed that was the reason why she didn’t notice Loki until he was almost in front of her. 

She stopped abruptly before she looked at him sharply. She hated when he did that and she didn’t appreciate him startling her when she was in her chamber. It had been understood that it was  _ her _ place. No one else’s. He had respected that.

Most of the time. 

“I take it that everything was to your liking?”

He asked curiously, as if he really cared about her opinion. She looked at him sharply and saw that he really  _ was _ curious. He was a great liar, but after years of living together and having to study him to know his moods, she could usually tell when he was being genuine. 

He looked straight into her eyes and she could see that there was a slight glimmer of brief insecurity as he waited for her reply. 

“I told them to decorate it like it used to be when father and mother were alive. I remember you liked the decorations in the halls. You couldn’t keep your eyes off of them.”

Tora was mute with surprise at that softly shared tidbit. She honestly thought that no one had really noticed her earlier fascination with the decorated halls when she had been a child. She had more or less forgotten it as she had gotten older and the antagonism between them had grown. She honestly was surprised that he remembered anything of those days. 

Everything must have shown on her face since Loki sighed and shook his head.

“I remember the important things, Tora. I always have.”

He walked out then, leaving her to her confused thoughts.

~*~*~*~*

Tora held the cup of mead loosely in her hand, while with the other, she propped her chin up. 

In the hall below, the tables were full of jarls, soldiers, guards and farmers. Servants flittered about and children who hadn’t tired out were running about. She was sure that she saw more than a few couples hiding in the dark corners of the halls and wondered if they were going to have a crop of babes to deal with come next harvest season. She smirked at the thought and lifted her cup to her lips.

Tora drank the rest of the mead in her cup and let the mead hit her, blanking her mind with the sweet richness of it all. She was pleasantly tipsy with the mead she had drunk and with the pleasant company of Lord Sif, Frey, and Idunn. Njord and Ran had also been present, but had disappeared sometime in between courses. Ullr and Bragi were saying something and Loki was nodding and smiling, but his eyes flickered to her every few moments.

She had let it pass long enough before she finally put her cup of mead down and turned to look at him. 

“Is there something you need to ask me, my lord?”

She asked him, making him finally focus his entire attention on her. 

“Can a king not look upon his queen?”

Tora only raised an eyebrow at that question and Loki’s expression darkened slightly before he reached out his hand for her to take. She bit back a sigh and took his hand, letting him pull her to her feet in a practiced move they had performed ever since they had been married. They turned to the court and bowed towards them before they made their way to their chambers. 

Tora shivered as he pulled her flush against his body. She shivered as she felt herself pressed up tight and she was surprised it wasn’t from anger or resentment, but rather something else that she couldn’t put her finger on. Before she could examine it further, Loki tilted her chin up so that she could look into his eyes and see no guile in their depths.

“I want to do more than look at you, Tora. It’s Yule. Let me do more than that.”

He reached out and cupped her face with his hands before he kissed her, his hands moving down her body as he deepened the kiss. She went slack in his arms, her defences all gone as he lifted her up and carried her to the bed. 

It wasn’t clear what happened next. She couldn’t recall the whole picture. Only flashes of memory came back to her after. Tora remembered the feel of his cool hands as he caressed her, the taste of mead on his tongue, the weight of him on top of her before he was inside her. She remembered the pain that quickly transformed into pleasure and the feel of his muscles moving under her hands as he moved. 

She recalled the sound of storms outside and his quiet laughter as she had slipped into sleep. 

It had been one of the most peaceful Yules they had ever shared. 

Yet she would never tell him that. Nor would she tell him how much she had appreciated it all. 

Yet he knew. She was sure of it. 

But he would never hear it from her. Ever.

END


End file.
